Shanghai braces itself for torrential rain as Typhoon Kong-rey advances

BEIJING - China's financial hub Shanghai is bracing for potentially the worst rains in more than 40 years as Typhoon Kong-rey looks set to arrive from the south to sweep along the eastern coast over the next two days.

Shanghai's railway operator announced suspensions to some high-speed trains from Oct 31 to Nov 1 in preparation for Kong-rey's impact. The railway bureau said it will track the typhoon's path and adjust train schedules accordingly.

Authorities alerted citizens to stock up on drinking water and some food ahead of the forecast extreme wet weather not seen since 1981, Chinese media said.

Kong-rey is expected to make landfall in Taiwan as a strong category 4 typhoon on Oct 31, the largest storm by size in 30 years to hit the island, unloading heavy rain and strong winds.

Taiwan's forecaster said Kong-rey is expected to cross Taiwan's south, enter the Taiwan Strait and move northeasterly towards China after.

In the Western Pacific basin, where the typhoon season can last until December at lower latitudes, large tropical cyclones such as Super Typhoon Yagi and Tropical Storm Trami have killed more than 1,000 people in East Asia this year.

Typhoons are more widely known as a damaging summer weather phenomenon, but autumn typhoons can be super strong, take unusual routes, and join cold air to create more extreme wind and rainstorms, China Meteorological Administration's public weather service chief Zhu Dingzhen told state broadcaster CCTV.

Peripheral circulation from Kong-rey and cold air from China's north will combine, bringing about up to 180mm of rain from Oct 31 evening into Nov 1, said local media.

Local media warned of extreme rainfall, with hourly precipitation possibly reaching 70mm.

Aside from Shanghai, China's national forecaster has also issued rainstorm warnings for parts of China's southeast and eastern provinces including for Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangsu.

Zhejiang issued a typhoon warning and also suspended some trains, while Fujian has raised its emergency response levels for floods and storms. REUTERS